The Kyrene School District received results this week from a community survey that hadn’t been conducted in seven years.

The 2012 Community Survey by WestGroup Research surveyed 609 residents in the district and showed an overall strong satisfaction from the group with Kyrene’s quality of education.

Albeit roughly small sample sizes for some questions and strictly over-the-phone surveying, board members expressed interest in doing the survey more often and with more people surveyed.

“The more objective data we have the better off we will be,” said Superintendent David Schauer. “And this has been a gap for us for a while, so I believe we would want to continue this on a regular basis.”

The survey was conduced in April, and its participants are broke down into 408 parents and 201 non-parents who were called through random-digit dialing.

Based on the survey, 26 percent of the group thought one of the district’s strengths were teachers and staff, with 13 percent saying a strength was the quality of their programs.

The biggest challenges the survey group answered were lack of proper parent and financial support and overcrowded classes.

Questions included whether they would recommend the district to others, their reason for recommending, and what letter grade they would rate the district, among others.

The survey also showed 53 percent of the group wanted to see a total of 200 calender school days increased from a current 180 days in comparison to the option of longer school days or a year-round school year.

While the Tri-District Calendar Committee has already looked into that change and if funding would allow, governing board member Ross Robb voiced his support.

“If 53 percent of people thought that was worthwhile, that might be something we may want to look at again,” Robb said.

Another topic deemed important by the survey group were the introduction to foreign languages in both elementary and middle schools. Ninety-three percent of people thought Spanish should be a language taught in schools.

In response to about one-fourth of parents concerned with school safety that stems from bullying, the district is planning on a new program that will address the issue of bullying in middle schools.